Genetic mapping and DNA specification allow for dramatically reconsidered notions of social coherence, affiliation, and social identity. At the same time, America as a society and nation-state is struggling with the meaning of inclusion and diversity. This discourse is marked by appeals to both biological and social constructions of race and ethnicity. Into this moment of social tension, the scientific results of the Human Genome Project offer a tangible claim to truth, relating origin to self and identity with a renewed sense of certainty. Such a moment calls forth deeply challenging questions. This project will bring together an interdisciplinary working group of scholars to explore these questions. During a three year period, it will meet to develop the language, criteria, and conceptual framework for exploring issues related to genetic variation research and social identity. Specifically the project will address ways in which the information emerging from research into human genetic variation may affect three overlapping domains: concepts of identity and authenticity; concepts of identity and community; and concepts of identity, family, and kinship. The multidisciplinary working group that will explore these complex and novel issues includes scholars from genetics, philosophy, religious studies, sociology, cultural anthropology, and history, as well as scholars whose work is intimately tied to questions of race and ethnicity, such as those working in African-American studies, Jewish Studies, and Native American Studies. At the end of the project, we will be prepared to both publish the scholarly discourse to the academic community and to disseminate the results of our reflections to a wider audience via the Internet.